- Maurice Richard
- On May 27, 2000 the earthly world bade farewell to you, Maurice
Richard. You inspired us and we adored you, but with true humility
you brushed aside all that we wanted to ascribe to you. A "hero",
we called you. A "legend" we said and we dubbed you
'The Rocket'. "Just a hockey player", is what you called
yourself. 544 goals. 421 assists. 1 MVP award. 5 Scoring titles.
8 Stanley Cups. Just a hockey player? Tempting enough to call
you much more than that when looking at your Hockey accomplishments
alone. But your life was a much broader canvas than the ice alone.
And you lived that well. While you would be the first to point
out your failings, with your God-given talent you could have
flaunted yourself and paraded around like the Madison Avenue
"heroes" of today. You did not do that. You remained
kind amongst us. So, we will honour you as you wish to be honoured.
As Gentleman and as mankind's good friend.
- Thank you, Maurice Richard.
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Poem released by the family of Maurice Richard...
- For one last time, with
fire in your eyes
- you take the puck at centre
ice
- driving hard with your
legs
- you skate straight ahead
- as swiftly as you can
- but as you cross the enemy's
blueline
- suddenly you no longer
see the goalie
- the net disappears
- the boards open wide,
- a welcome gate to freedom
- and you escape the arena
- to the rivers of your
youth
- and for hours, until the
crowd is gone
- only night and silence
remain
- the puck on your palette
- you skate forever without
end
- on the endless ice of
our memory
- until we all fade away
- and you breathe the pure
air
- the absolute joy of skating
alone
- eyes in the heavens
- without rumor or goal
- free of all that hinders
you
-
- By Bernard Pozier
-
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Thank you , God for giving us Maurice Richard--make
sure he's allowed all the ice time he wants.
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